Potato-cutter.



PATENTED FEB. 25

M. M. 'WHEEL^BR. POTATO CUTTER.

APPLIGATIQN FILED MAY 4, 1907.

MELLEY lli. WHEELERy OF WIXXSBORO, TEXAS.

POTATOCUTTER.

specificati@ of Lettere Patent'.

Patented Feb. 25, 1908.v

Application filed Mav 4. 1907. Serial No. 371.914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MELLEY M. WHEELER, citizen of the 'United States, residing at Winnsboro, in the county of Wood and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

' The .present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in vegetable cutters, and 'more particularly to a novel form of -seed potato cutter, the primary object being to provide a device of this cha-r acter bymeans of which a potato can be quickly and easily divided into a plurality of segments such as areV employed for planting pur oses.

T e invention also, aims to design a potato cutterw'hich is simple and inexpensive in it-s construction and comprises few and durable parts which can be easily manufactured and assembled to produce the finished machine.

F or a full description of the invention and the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of t-he details of construction and the means for 'eecting the result, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying dra-wings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the seed potato cutter constructed in accordance with the resent invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the same, portions being broken away.

Corresponding and like parts are referred -to in the following description and indicated in all the views of thedrawings by the same reference characters.

Specifically describing the invention the j numeral 1 designates the base, one end of which serves as a support for the knife carryi ing standard while the opposite end has the hopper 2 arranged thereon.` Projecting laterally from the first mentioned end of the base are the arms 3 havlng the companion standards1 extending upwardly therefrom.

A cross bar '5 connects the extremities of the standards 4 while a second cross bar 6 Ijoins intermediate portions of the standards, the said cross bars being formed with corresponding openings within which the knife carrying plunger 7 is slidably mounted.` Projecting upwardly from the opposite sides of the hopper 2 is a lever support 4comprising the inclined braces 8 having one end of the operatinglever 9 pivotally mounted between the upper ends thereof. This operating lever is pivotally connected to the upper end of the plunger 7 and forms a means for. reciprocating the sa-me. The knife 10 which is applied to the lower endof the plunger T has a peculiar formation and comprises a plurality of'blades 1l radiating from a common center and provided at their outer ends with upwardlyv and inwardly extending arms 12 connected to the head 13. The portion of the base l immediately below the knife 10 is formed with cut away portions or slots H corresponding to the blades 11 and designed .to receive the same when the plunger is lowered in order to enable the knife to make a clean cut and completely sever the various segments of the potato or other member being operated upon. ,A coil spring 15 surrounds that portion of the plunger 7 between the `two cross bars 5 and 6. the'ends of the spring engaging respectively the lower cross bar 6 and a projection 16 upon the plunger.l The tension in the spring l5 normallv holds the knife and plunger in a raised position so vthat upon the operation of the device the base under the knife.

potato can be placed under the knife and the lever then pressed downwardly in order to bring 4the knife into engagementJ withthe potato, the said' knife being automatically retracted when the pressure upon the lever is released. The hopper 2 which consists of upright walls on opposite sides of the base is designed to contain the potatoes to be cut and guide 'flanges 1T projecting upwardly from the base form a channel leading from the mouth of the hopper to the portion of the In the operation of the device the potatoes are fed ,by hand from the hopper to the knife. It will of course be understood that if found desirable the head lcarrying the blades 11 can be removed from the plunger T and a different type of knife substituted therefor and the said knife may be retained in position by any suitable means such as the set screw shown.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

ln a device of the character described, the combination of a base, afpair of companion standards projecting from opposite sides of the base at one end thereof, spaced cross bars connecting t-he standards, a reciprocating lunger guided in its movements by the cross ars, a knife carried by the lower end of the /plunger and adapted to cooperate with the base; a coil spring surrounding the plunger 25 seem between lthe spaceii cross-bers 'mid operating In testimony whereof Ilafix my signature to h iold the lplugr normally in ln'elevated in presence of twowitnesses. posi ion a., ever or acztlmtin@,t e p anger l' and apajirof uprightWrailsonoposite sides of MELLEY M. NHEELER' [L 5f] 5 tir base at the otherend'thereof, .the ,stidv Witnesses:

Walls 'constituting a hopper and facing to- NEWT. FLE-TOHER,' Wards the knife -M. C. MAINs.. 

